Trump admin launches blistering attack on ‘left-wing blog’ Washington Post

A Pentagon spokesperson lashed out at the Washington Post over a new report that detailed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s shocking security costs.

The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that Hegseth’s “unusually large personal security requirements are straining” the U.S. Army agency that is responsible for protecting him. The report found that Hegseth’s security needs are a “multimillion-dollar initiative” that requires the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division (CID) to protect family residences across three states.

Sean Parnell, the chief Pentagon spokesman and a senior adviser, criticized the Washington Post report in a scathing statement shared on social media platform X. He claimed that the report was “criticizing” Hegseth for receiving “appropriate protection” and alleged, without evidence, that the newspaper revealed personal information about Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

“In the wake of two assassinations attempts against President Trump, ICE agents facing a 1000% increase in assaults, and repeated threats of retaliation from Iran for striking their nuclear capabilities, it’s astonishing that the Washington Post is criticizing a high-ranking cabinet official for receiving appropriate security protection, especially after doxxing the DHS Secretary last week,” Parnell wrote on X.

“Any action pertaining to the security of Secretary Hegseth and his family has been in response to the threat environment and at the full recommendation the Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID). When left-wing blogs like the Washington Post continue to dox cabinet secretaries’ security protocols and movements, it puts lives at risk,” he added.

Hegseth’s acting deputy press secretary, Joel Valdez, said on Wednesday that there should be “severe punishment” for the three journalists who wrote the report.

“WaPo intentionally published sensitive details of @SecDef’s security detail for him and his family – putting their safety at risk,” he wrote on X.

The posts from Parnell and Valdez are at odds with the Washington Post’s report, which stated that it “withheld several sensitive details gathered in the course of reporting this article, including the size of Hegseth’s protective details and the precise locations where they are assigned.”

Instead, the investigation focused on how the Army’s CID staff is reportedly strained due to the security needs of Hegseth. According to the Washington Post report, security requirements for Hegseth, his family and his residences have “added pressure” to the Army’s CID.

“We have complete inability to achieve our most basic missions,” one person told The Post.

People familiar with the matter told the Post that historically, about 150 CID’s agents are serve on security details for top defense officials, including the Defense Secretary. However, one person said that number is now “400 and going up,” while another said that the figure is “over 500,” according to the report.

“I’ve never seen this many security teams for one guy,” one CID official told the Post. “Nobody has.”

The Post cited Hegseth’s large family and the rise of political violence as reasons for the increased security for the top defense official. Two people told the Post that Hegseth received an increase of security after a bomb threat was made against his home in Tennessee earlier this year.

Hegseth’s tenure as head of the Defense Department has been tumultuous since the beginning. He faced widespread backlash for sending sensitive military information in a group text, firing some of his top aides and for targeting Pentagon officials with polygraph tests.

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